Upright bike for a month, sw London?

[jefmcg]

A friend is recovering from back surgery (recovery very well, running 5k in 32 minutes) but can't bend to ride her hybrid yet. She's frustrated having to drive to the gym to ride a stationary. So if anyone has a bike with a very upright riding position (eg classic Dutch) that's going unused that they could spare for a month or two, that they are prepared to lend to a stranger, let me know.

It doesn't have to be in great condition, just ridable.

Thanks

 

[jefmcg]

How tall?

5' 5ish

 

[raleighnut]

Can't she just change to higher rise bars on the hybrid, only take an hour to swap em over.

 

[mjr]

Can't she just change to higher rise bars on the hybrid, only take an hour to swap em over.

You can do that, or more swept bars and a taller adjustable stem, but some hybrids have a geometry that will still leave you leaning forwards in order to balance the pedal-saddle angle.

 

[jefmcg]

https://www.decathlon.co.uk/elops-100-classic-style-bike-black-id_8305485.html

This is cheap, she could get this and then sell it or keep it for if she gets ill again.

That's exactly what I suggested to her (a friend bought that one 6 months ago, and loves it), but she doesn't want to spend any money.

Thanks everyone, there seemed a tiny chance that someone had "just the thing" in their shed, so worth an ask.

 

[coffeejo]

Sounds like shes tight!

Or skint? I appreciate that she may well be rolling in it but not everyone has got disposable income.

 

[jefmcg]

Sounds like shes tight!

She is a leading designer in her field (you probably would know her work, but she's private, so I am not going to say which field) but was recently made redundant (design department relocated to US), and now is designing products and taking the prototypes to manufacturers and potential investors. She has to be frugal.

 

[jefmcg]

Update: Turns out my friend had a skip rescue bike in her garden, left there by her ex. She's cleaned it up and bought ebay tyres. Now she has to find out if she can actually ride it.

Note: her worry that her back injury will prevent her riding it at all is the main reason she didn't want to spend much.

 

[jefmcg]

had coffee with said friend today. She was on the bike - it's proving painful, but she's trying to power through it.

It's a beautiful old thing, exactly what i was hoping someone had in their shed.

 

[mjr]

had coffee with said friend today. She was on the bike - it's proving painful, but she's trying to power through it.

It's a beautiful old thing, exactly what i was hoping someone had in their shed.

View attachment 143827

Nice. A £8 saddle and £10 handlebars would bring that bike much back to its classic look and I suspect might be easier to control than it is with those MTB bars... or if it ain't broke, don't fix it.

 

[jefmcg]

Nice. A £8 saddle and £10 handlebars would bring that bike much back to its classic look and I suspect might be easier to control than it is with those MTB bars... or if it ain't broke, don't fix it.

If she makes the recovery she's hoping for, someone here can buy it off her and finish the restoration.

(though swept back handlebars might be worth it, making it a little more upright.

 

[Roadrider48]

She could have borrowed my London road.
It has flat bars and chunky tyres. But I'm a bit late.

 

[jefmcg]

She's not making as much progress as she hoped, and her surgeon has told her that there's not much he can do for her: if something hurts, stop doing it. She stopped riding for a couple of days, and had much less pain. So cycling on the skip rescue wasn't doing her any favours.

That's the bad news. The good news is that she's pretty sure it's the weight of the bike, + the hub is frozen in top gear. So inspired by me sharing this link with her...

£10 handlebars

we have done this

Can't she just change to higher rise bars on the hybrid, only take an hour to swap em over.

Seems to have worked really well. Couldn't wipe the smile off her face (which I have cropped out, sorry)

 

[mjr]

From the presence of the classic trigger shifter and them being known for "failing high", I guess that's A Sturmey Archer three speed. If so, if it's really stuck in high and not just got the gear cable set wrongly (look for the photo guide to setting a Raleigh twenty gear cable up - something like Warrington Cycles blogspot), then put plastic and paper on the floor, lie the bike down with the back wheel on that, disconnect the gear cable, remove any plastic axle cap, unscrew the shift rod and remove it, then flood the hole with wd 40. Leave for a bit, spinning the wheel occasionally, flooding it again if you think it's that stuck, depending on whether any crud is being washed out, then fill with oil, then reassemble the gear shifting Gubbins and see if it's unfrozen. My SA hub was rather dysfunctional until it had some crap washed out, but it's done many hundreds of km and I've still not dismantled it... which I probably ought... it's not like it can fail any harder than my Nexus did

 

[jefmcg]

Thanks @mjr

As you can, the month stretched out and this is now - sadly - the new normal. So she bit the bullet and has got her much loved Spesh modified to suit. So the seized bike is now surplus to requirements. If it ends up in my hands I will either attempt to unseize it and find it a new home or pass it on to a forum member who wants to put in the work.